Australia counts on me

Australia was counting on me last night. In fact Australia was counting on everyone last night as every household was asked to take part in a census. The 5 yearly event helps keep track of what’s happening in our country and helps local, state and federal governments plan for the future.

I took the opportunity to fill out our census details on-line. It was fairly simple but it did take a while to go through the details for the four of us. It was the first time that Australians were able to submit census information on-line.

There were a few things that had changed since we did the last one 5 years ago. Being the avid cyclist that I am I’m a little disappointed that the census wasn’t scheduled for mid Spring so that there would be a higher representation of people using a bicycle to get to work. I ride to work each day, rain, hail or shine, so I still got to tick the bicycle box. Strangely though they weren’t interested in how we all got home from work, just how we got there in the first place.

With a range of questions on things like education, religion, career and much more, I suppose there’ll be lots of interesting statistics about all kinds of things when the results are put together. The first information from the census should be available in May with more details in June of next year.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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4 Comments

  • I don’t know when our next census is in the US, but I know the last one wasn’t online. That would be cool. I also don’t believe there is a box to check for bicycling to work, because most Americans are spoiled and lazy who insist on driving their SUVs even to the corner store for milk.

  • Not much to add to the census issue, but….
    I’m listening to you on the radio over the internet at this very moment! You and some lady were just telling the morning news. Cool!

  • Jennifer, I reckon that most Aussies won’t be ticking ‘bicycle’ as their chosen transport but hopefully there’ll be a fair percentage. I think there are a lot of Australians that would fir your spoilt and lazy description.

    Great to know you’ve tuned in, Lolly. Sounds like it might have been our breakfast announcer, Arthur Muhl, that you heard. I’m on-air from 9:00 a.m. to midday each weekday Perth time. If you want to check what time that is for you, you can check out http://www.timeanddate.com

    You’ll also be able to check the current time in Perth via the clock in the sidebar of my blog.

  • Oh, i was afraid you were gonna say something like that! I didn’t ever hear him say his name (but he sounded like you!) Maybe sometime I’ll be able to tune in late enough to catch you. I don’t have the high-speed connection at home, so it doesn’t work too well there. But maybe sometime if I’m working really late here.

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